Al-ashari opens the door and you all find yourself...
This stone courtyard is scattered with broken stones and shattered dreams. Men and woman lurk here against the walls and floor, eyeing you with suspicion. They look poor, wretched and homeless. One has a sign, which reads “THE END COMES.”
The looming bridge is overhead and you are back at the Auction House. The door to the Infinite Stairs is there, and you can always use it to go back onto the stairs if you wish.
Whitegaze chuckles briefly, "Seems you were a little less than focused. Or directions in there are as bad as they are out here. Unless..." And he'll turn to look at the auction hiuse thoughtfully.
"I don't feel like I got lost at all," Kale admits, making his way into the courtyard. Rather than approaching the auction house, however, he stops before the well. "There certainly is someone who knows where Cecilia is. The question is is whether or not we're willing to pay the price for asking." Kale inspects the well to see if anything about it has changed since their last visit.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Merric move out into the omnipresent rain, adjusting his goggles, scanning the area for anything...for rats maybe, remembering Kale's words from before. He walks up to the person holding the sign. "Greetins, me friend. How might you be doin?" Gesturing at the sign, Merric asks, "The end is coming? What end might that be? I'm thinkin' you're not meanin' the end o' the rain." He finishes with his best smile, trying to put the person at ease.
The door in the infinite stairs looked much like others, though only Whitegaze saw the other one from the opposite side. The ones in the tavern were different, as they had numbers on them, this one did not.
The well looks the same as it did previously, no changes.
Merric, the people stare blankly at you, no understanding in their eyes and no ability to communicate back with you.
Lia stays close to the group, not liking the vacant stares of the people milling around.
Merric shakes his head at the people, smiles his brightest smile, and then returns to the other, not turning his back of the mindless ones. "What are you thinking, me fren?" He asks Kale.
"I'm thinking the genie in that well will grant us a wish if we pay his price," he says, gesturing to the sign. "However you have to word your wish carefully - just like the rest of this city, he warps the granting of the wish in ways that are not always entirely beneficial to the wisher. Still... if we asked him where Cecilia was, he would tell us. Probably by doing something underhanded like teleporting the asker to wherever she is. It might be a risk we want to take, though. The same could be true for the dungeon, or the monster on the stairs - he's a literal well of information, waiting to be tapped."
"Is", corrected Al-Ashari, ""where Cecilia is". I am sure the well is just waiting for us to make a mistake. Question sounds frighteningly simple. I wonder what would be the catch here."
"I wish you would tell us where Cecilia is right now?" Kale rubs his chin. "I wish you would tell us if Cecilia is still alive? It still has to be phrased as a wish, somehow. At least until we attacked it, though, I had the feeling the thing in that well was just as frustrated as we were at the way its wishes were being twisted by this place. Maybe we can capitalize on that somehow to get it to help us. I wish this wishing well would tell us what it wanted. I wish we could discover a way to help the well. I wish the well would help us with one of our tasks, such as finding Cecilia, in return for aiding it. Perhaps we can forge a path like that somehow with clever wording."
"Praps...I wish to know where Cecilia, daughter of...whatever her name is..is at this moment and how to get to her," Merric suggests, working hard to enunciate clearly, without his usual accent. "I'm thinkin' we be needin' tuh be specific as to the Cecilia. If'n there be more'n one, yes?"
"This is actually a good idea," nodded Al-Ashari, "and well pronounced too. Cecilia is the daughter of Duchess from the Crooked House. (Do hope she is indeed her daughter). However, if "I wish to know" works ... may be we can ask more interesting things? Like "how to leave this city"?"
"I think I am ready to risk it and ask directly, though do not like the ideas how the well can interpret that wish."
Kale pulls out the picture of Cecilia. „Cecilia, the woman depicted in this portrait, if you go that route,“ he says, handing it to Al-Ashari. „Careful... I‘m not sure how often we get to make a wish, and I‘ve already wished once myself.“
Al-Ashari took the portrait. "I am less concerned about decryption and more about "I wish to know" part. The ways I can twist these words in my mind are not very reassuring".
"So far we tried it twice. Your wish was complex: you wanted to make a mirror that shows the party member, which name is spoken by the one holding the mirror. Instead, the mirror shows a random party member and harms that person. Thursday's wish was very simple and direct "I wish to return home unharmed” - all she said. Instead, a piece of her old home was created in the city and she was teleported there, though, indeed, safely. I do not see any pattern here, but it seems the simpler, the better. Let me think how to formulate it".
Whitegaze will think for a moment, “Perhaps “I wish for you to safely guide us to Cecilia, the person depicted in this portrait, ensuring we find her without any of us, her included, experiencing harm”? Or even just, “I wish for you to guide us safely through the city to our intended goals until such time as we can free ourselves from the city?” And suggest to him that freeing ourselves might also free him?”
"Well, whatever we gonna do, I'm thinkin' we should be doin' it," Merric says, eyeing the city around them. "This isn't the most frenly place tuh be hangin' aroun' if ye catch me meanin'."
Al-Ashari finally came to a decision and made a few steps to the well. No, she still did not like the idea of using this thing as all, and had a few things she would rather try before playing that game again, but the last bits of curiosity helped her to dare and try. She dropped the coins in the darkness below and announced: "I wish to know, being able to understand and being able to explain to others whereabouts of Cecilia, daughter of the Duchess from the Crooked house in this city".
(Bear is still in front, shining like a lightbulb, and ready to take on the world. Did Kale find anything with his investigation check?)
Whitegaze is still at the rear of the group, keeping an eye out behind them.
21
You only find more stairs with your previous check, no sign of the creature Whitegaze fought previously.
Al-ashari opens the door and you all find yourself...
This stone courtyard is scattered with broken stones and shattered dreams. Men and woman lurk here against the walls and floor, eyeing you with suspicion. They look poor, wretched and homeless. One has a sign, which reads “THE END COMES.”
The looming bridge is overhead and you are back at the Auction House. The door to the Infinite Stairs is there, and you can always use it to go back onto the stairs if you wish.
Whitegaze chuckles briefly, "Seems you were a little less than focused. Or directions in there are as bad as they are out here. Unless..." And he'll turn to look at the auction hiuse thoughtfully.
"Did anyone noticed any sign on the door? Something that allows to tell it from the others?" Al-Ashari tried to remember herself too.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"I don't feel like I got lost at all," Kale admits, making his way into the courtyard. Rather than approaching the auction house, however, he stops before the well. "There certainly is someone who knows where Cecilia is. The question is is whether or not we're willing to pay the price for asking." Kale inspects the well to see if anything about it has changed since their last visit.
(let me know if you need an actual roll)
Merric move out into the omnipresent rain, adjusting his goggles, scanning the area for anything...for rats maybe, remembering Kale's words from before. He walks up to the person holding the sign. "Greetins, me friend. How might you be doin?" Gesturing at the sign, Merric asks, "The end is coming? What end might that be? I'm thinkin' you're not meanin' the end o' the rain." He finishes with his best smile, trying to put the person at ease.
Percpetion: 16
Persuasion: 24
Tandor the White, Human Life Cleric
The door in the infinite stairs looked much like others, though only Whitegaze saw the other one from the opposite side. The ones in the tavern were different, as they had numbers on them, this one did not.
The well looks the same as it did previously, no changes.
Merric, the people stare blankly at you, no understanding in their eyes and no ability to communicate back with you.
Lia stays close to the group, not liking the vacant stares of the people milling around.
Merric shakes his head at the people, smiles his brightest smile, and then returns to the other, not turning his back of the mindless ones. "What are you thinking, me fren?" He asks Kale.
Tandor the White, Human Life Cleric
"I'm thinking the genie in that well will grant us a wish if we pay his price," he says, gesturing to the sign. "However you have to word your wish carefully - just like the rest of this city, he warps the granting of the wish in ways that are not always entirely beneficial to the wisher. Still... if we asked him where Cecilia was, he would tell us. Probably by doing something underhanded like teleporting the asker to wherever she is. It might be a risk we want to take, though. The same could be true for the dungeon, or the monster on the stairs - he's a literal well of information, waiting to be tapped."
"Is", corrected Al-Ashari, ""where Cecilia is". I am sure the well is just waiting for us to make a mistake. Question sounds frighteningly simple. I wonder what would be the catch here."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"I wish you would tell us where Cecilia is right now?" Kale rubs his chin. "I wish you would tell us if Cecilia is still alive? It still has to be phrased as a wish, somehow. At least until we attacked it, though, I had the feeling the thing in that well was just as frustrated as we were at the way its wishes were being twisted by this place. Maybe we can capitalize on that somehow to get it to help us. I wish this wishing well would tell us what it wanted. I wish we could discover a way to help the well. I wish the well would help us with one of our tasks, such as finding Cecilia, in return for aiding it. Perhaps we can forge a path like that somehow with clever wording."
"Praps...I wish to know where Cecilia, daughter of...whatever her name is..is at this moment and how to get to her," Merric suggests, working hard to enunciate clearly, without his usual accent. "I'm thinkin' we be needin' tuh be specific as to the Cecilia. If'n there be more'n one, yes?"
Tandor the White, Human Life Cleric
"This is actually a good idea," nodded Al-Ashari, "and well pronounced too. Cecilia is the daughter of Duchess from the Crooked House. (Do hope she is indeed her daughter). However, if "I wish to know" works ... may be we can ask more interesting things? Like "how to leave this city"?"
"I think I am ready to risk it and ask directly, though do not like the ideas how the well can interpret that wish."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Kale pulls out the picture of Cecilia. „Cecilia, the woman depicted in this portrait, if you go that route,“ he says, handing it to Al-Ashari. „Careful... I‘m not sure how often we get to make a wish, and I‘ve already wished once myself.“
Al-Ashari took the portrait. "I am less concerned about decryption and more about "I wish to know" part. The ways I can twist these words in my mind are not very reassuring".
"So far we tried it twice. Your wish was complex: you wanted to make a mirror that shows the party member, which name is spoken by the one holding the mirror. Instead, the mirror shows a random party member and harms that person. Thursday's wish was very simple and direct "I wish to return home unharmed” - all she said. Instead, a piece of her old home was created in the city and she was teleported there, though, indeed, safely. I do not see any pattern here, but it seems the simpler, the better. Let me think how to formulate it".
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Whitegaze will think for a moment, “Perhaps “I wish for you to safely guide us to Cecilia, the person depicted in this portrait, ensuring we find her without any of us, her included, experiencing harm”? Or even just, “I wish for you to guide us safely through the city to our intended goals until such time as we can free ourselves from the city?” And suggest to him that freeing ourselves might also free him?”
"Well, whatever we gonna do, I'm thinkin' we should be doin' it," Merric says, eyeing the city around them. "This isn't the most frenly place tuh be hangin' aroun' if ye catch me meanin'."
Tandor the White, Human Life Cleric
Al-Ashari finally came to a decision and made a few steps to the well. No, she still did not like the idea of using this thing as all, and had a few things she would rather try before playing that game again, but the last bits of curiosity helped her to dare and try. She dropped the coins in the darkness below and announced: "I wish to know, being able to understand and being able to explain to others whereabouts of Cecilia, daughter of the Duchess from the Crooked house in this city".
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice